What he might have done to England in 1930. Grimmett made his name on that tour but Ironmonger could have founded a legend if Hendren was quoted correctly. He thought Eng would have lost 5 blot if Ironmonger toured.

Then again, his record against England is fairly poor. Averaged 33 or something.

I'm no historian, but I do know that Johnson was strongly encourgaged to persist with cricket (when he wasn't be selected by his state) in order to get back in to the Australian team and assume the captaincy vacancy. Bradman had his fingerprints all over Johnson's career, largely because Bradman didn't want to see Miller captain Australia (when he should have).

Benaud has commented on this, saying that Johnson's "speech making" got him the gig. Probably the one instance in Australian cricket where the captain was selected not on merit.

I'd always been of the impression that Lindsay Hassett drove that selection - he had a "man to man" chat with Johnson essentially telling him that if he got his **** together he could be the next captain of Australia. Hassett was captain of South Melbourne, Victoria and Australia, and had a strong influence in Johnson succeeding him in all three jobs.

The fact we have produced so few really good finger spinners yet have dominated cricket for such extended periods really does go to show what an utterly rank and irrelevant discipline of the game it is.

WWCC - Loyaulte Mi Lie"People make me happy.. not places.. people""When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." - Samuel Johnson

"Hope is the fuel of progress and fear is the prison in which you put yourself" - Tony Benn